The invention concerns an apparatus for transporting articles forming a mass flow from an input device to an output device, including an endless conveying element with a transport run and a return run, the conveying element being guided about at least two rollers designed as a driving and/or deflecting element.
Furthermore, the invention concerns an apparatus for filling a subsequent apparatus with rod-shaped articles, in particular a packer, including a filling head with a feed element for transporting articles forming a mass flow, the feed element leading into a chute in the region of an orifice and comprising a lower conveying means which includes two transport elements arranged one behind the other.
Furthermore, the invention is concerned with a method for transporting articles forming a mass flow, including the steps of: feeding the mass flow in the main direction of conveying into an apparatus for filling a subsequent apparatus, in particular according to any of claims 16 to 18, transporting the mass flow from an inlet region to an outlet region, and carrying the mass flow away.
Apparatuses of this kind for filling a subsequent apparatus are used in particular in the tobacco-processing industry. These apparatuses are used e.g. to supply a packer with rod-shaped articles, e.g. cigarettes, tobacco rods, filter rods or the like. By means of the feed device, a usually multi-layered mass flow having a given height is transported into the filling head. By means of the feed device, the articles or the mass flow composed of them are guided into the region of the orifice. Via a chute which adjoins the feed device, the articles are fed to the packer. An essential component of above apparatuses of this kind is an apparatus for transporting articles forming a mass flow from an input device, for example, an input conveyor, to an output device, for example, a chute which is associated with a packer. Such apparatuses for transporting the articles include an endless conveying element which is guided about two rollers which are designed as driving and/or deflecting rollers. The portion of the conveying element which carries/receives the articles or the mass flow is the transport run. The portion of the conveying element which runs empty is called the return run.
During normal operation of such apparatuses it is necessary to be able to carry out e.g. a change of product or brand. This means that the apparatus must be completely emptied of one product or brand before the next product or brand can be introduced into the apparatus. In other cases it may be necessary to discharge from the apparatus substandard, defective or otherwise unwanted articles or sections of the mass flow which have been detected before in any known manner.
With the known apparatuses and methods it is necessary to uncouple the apparatuses from the next devices and/or to shut down the apparatuses, in order to remove the articles, as a rule at least partly manually, from the apparatus. For this purpose, at the end of the apparatus for example a guide element made of cardboard, sheet metal or the like is positioned in the region of the orifice, which conveys the articles into a receptacle before they can drop into the chute. This is firstly time-consuming. Secondly there is only the option of emptying the apparatus completely or not at all. In other words it is not possible, for example, in a mass flow, to discharge the middle section which is e.g. detected as substandard. In order to discharge the substandard articles from the middle of the mass flow, the whole contents of the apparatus must be discharged, i.e. also articles which have not been detected as substandard. This leads to high wastage of articles.